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A glimmer of hope?

>"Preliminary research shows some bees can integrate genetic information from the virus into their own genomes, apparently giving them resistance, Sela said in a telephone interview. Sela added that about 30 percent of the bees he’s examined had done so.

Those naturally “transgenic” honeybees theoretically could be propagated to create stocks of virus-resistant insects, Lipkin said."

Teenage Mutant Bees to the rescue! If 30% of our bees can become resistant we'll be in luck. But that does not seem to reflect in the losses of 90% that were reported by the big commercial opperations.

see what the bbc says

Well if its true, pack it up its gonna be a long haul before it stabilizes.

Someone better get fast at it to isolate strains that are resistant to the virus or is doom and gloom for keeps and those needing pollinators.

I guess that should be a lesson to all, not only should there be rigorous quarantine of bees outside of the US, but each state should be providing their own pollinators for crops; too little too late but I'm sure the California Almond growers must be scrambling.

The whole idea of interstate migratory pollinators is a formula for disaster, its too bad there were not good practices in effect years ago to stop interstate transportation of bees.

Maybe this will be a wake up call to stop any interstate sale or shipment of bees. Again, too little too late.

just read the original article in Science. I wish they would release the article on their website without a subscription. There is some very important details that the regular media is leaving out. Surprised? I'll try and summarize some important and interesting details without straight out copying.

-------

Calderone, N. says we've identified a suspect whereas before we didn't even have circumstantial evidence.

research team ordered Australian bees and found IAPV (isreli virus) in most of them

4 beekeeping operations with CCD and two without CCD where tested
25 of 30 colonies had IAPV,
1 of 21 healthy colonies had IAPV
Hornig, M. says its a "good marker"
bee virologist de Miranda, J. says its "Chicken-and-egg problem" CCD hives tend to accumulate many secondary diseases could be just another

Bromenshenk, J. of Bee Alert Tech. Montana doubts link to CCD. his collaborators have spotted over a dozen known and new viruses including IAPV in Florida, California, and Australia, but none associated with CCD. He says no clear pattern yet.

All 4 operations infected had either imported Australian bees or had hives close to others with Australian bees.

the 2 CCD free beeks where in Hawaii and Penslvania, neither had Australians

No CCD in Australia, Canada, or Israel but IAPV is there.
Perhaps not in Australia because no Varroa?
Pettis notes Varroa present in Canada and Israel but no CCD
Pettis notes other stresses in US like trucking and poor nutrition.

Experiments are beginning to try and recreate CCD with IAPV with combination of 3 pathogens and stress.

Sela in Isreal says IAPV deadly. bees feed in experiment die at 98% within days
but some bees resistant
1/3 isreal bee samples show incorporation of virus into genome.
experimented with these show 20% surived when injected IAPV.

Cox-Foster advises beekeepers to keep bees healthy as possible and not to reuse hives from collapsed colonies

summarized from
Stokstad, E. (2007). Genomics: Puzzling decline of U.S. bees linked to virus from Australia. News of the Week.. Science 317: 1304-1305.

Sad to say I bet importation of Australian bees will continue this year even though its known to be importing a virus not previously found in US. Importers will note that the virus may have been in US previously as not many samples tested previously. Also will probably note its already here so they are not importing a new virus even though they are the ones that probably already imported it. too much $$$$$$$$$$.

Beekeepers should take note of what they are buying. which is bees that are confirmed to be caring a known, deadly, not previously reported bee virus in US. Quote from the above referenced article "Moreover, THE TEAM ORDERED BEES FROM AUSTRALIA AND DISCOVERED IAPV IN MOST OF THEM." So, regardless of the cause of CCD, the above statement remains true and known.

Shipping bees is bad news. The further they are shipped the greater potential for exotic pathogen spread.

Shipping bees is bad news. The further they are shipped the greater potential for exotic pathogen spread.

Well, fortunately and unfortunately, we live in a global economy, based on a huge import and export infrastructure.

Fortunately because we as consumers can buy goods at competitive prices, even though we really should consider the downsides of this approach (that's a topic for another thread).

Unfortunate because we are not always willing to fund (read taxes) increased services for monitoring imports by USDA APHIS. The agency is not only fiscally strapped, but has to address and respond to multiple situations affecting many agricultural industries. Look at the logging and lumber sector alone: $420M annually spent to minimize the affects of some other imported vectors. Examples include Sudden Oak Death, Emerald Ash Borer, and the Asian Longhorned Beetle. The Ash Borer is now moving into my state, and it is being assisted by happy campers brings loads of infected firewood over the border from infected adjacent states.

Oh, don't forget another "imported" treat: The Zebra Mussel which is now common in our state waters. Ignorant boaters are dropping them all over the place.

Pests and disease transfers on a worldwide and even a local basis has a long history. The fact remains that if CCD is indeed an "imported" strain of virus, it is up to us as beekeepers to follow procedures to minimize the spread of this virus by screening our purchases and our transfer of bees, and also avoid the contamination and transfer of equipment. And, probably most important of all, develop a working congressional lobby that speaks on our behalf -- we shouldn't complain about future increases in fees to attain these goals.

I just had a chance to listen to Ira Flatow on public radio do a spot on it. The entymologists he interviewed very specifically stated that they do not yet know if the virus is a cause of CCD or merely a very good marker for it. A good deal more work needs to be done.

OK so say it is a virus that's causing CCD.
I have yet to hear WHERE the bees are when they open a hive that's gone with CCD.
Everything I've seen shows all the beeks saying "that hives empty" and they show a hive with NO BEES.
None alive and none dead.
Wouldn't the last one out dye trying to clean out the hive ???
Just my observation.